From Where to Here

Ep06: Empowering Latinas in the U.S.: Diana Martínez García on Identity & Change

• Season 1 • Episode 6

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In this powerful episode of From Where to Here, host Alexandra Lloyd sits down with Diana Martínez García, an immigrant rights advocate and cultural connector who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border as a child. From navigating two identities to lobbying in D.C. for DACA, Diana shares her journey of resilience, advocacy, and uplifting young Latinas in Alabama through her work with Virtual Promotoras.

We explore what it means to belong in two cultures, break down stereotypes about Mexican identity, and dive into the unspoken challenges immigrant communities face—especially around access to healthcare and reproductive education.

Whether you're passionate about social justice, Latinx voices, or simply love stories that inspire change, this episode will stay with you.

🌶️ Key Takeaways

Advocacy begins with personal experience — Diana’s story shows how lived experience can be a powerful tool for change, especially in shaping policy and creating access to resources.

Cultural identity is complex and non-linear — We explore how Diana navigates feeling “too Mexican for the U.S., too American for Mexico,” and what true belonging looks like.

Reproductive health conversations matter — Through Virtual Promotoras, Diana is creating safe spaces for young Latinas to learn about their bodies, their rights, and their futures.

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hi I'm Alexandra Lloyd a French Canadian who's called Birmingham Alabama home since 2,017 welcome to from where to here the podcast that celebrates the rich diversity of languages cultures and the stories that connect us all each month I'll sit down with inspiring guests from different backgrounds to explore their cultures languages and tackle some fun in our truth there or debunk segment whether you're a language enthusiast a culture lover or just curious about the world you're in the right place let's dive into your next favourite cultural adventure today's episode is with Diana Martinez Garcia this candle smells like you're a US citizen that was given by a friend after I become a US citizen so I thought that was pretty timely to today's episode I think if you are a young Latina in the U s you're gonna find this very helpful I think if you are a white male in the U s um that have dated a Mexican or maybe a Latina or even just any US citizen if you can be open to hearing her thoughts about her own experience and seeing how does that translate into your own values or your own beliefs I think that would be that would be a a big step it's about being curious opening your mind I hope this episode allows you to do that there's always room for expanding the perception that we might have about a certain situation and I hope this episode lets you do just that enjoy today's guest is someone who embodies resilience advocacy and the power of using your voice to create change Diana Martinez Garcia's journey began when she crossed the US Mexico border as a child an experience that shaped her understanding of identity belonging and the challenges immigrant communities face that personal journey LED her to become a fierce advocate for immigrant rights lobbying in DC for DACA DACA program and working to break down barriers for young Latinos Tina is navigating life in the US through virtual promotoras she's in empowering young Latina women in Alabama with vital education on reproductive health and access to healthcare filling a gap in conversations often left unspoken but Diana's impact doesn't stop there she's also a cultural connector challenging the way we talk about identity relationships and what it truly means to belong in two worlds we have so much to dive in today from navigating life between two cultures to her work uplifting the next generation of Latinas Diana welcome to from where to here thank you for having me I think it's such an important conversation that we're gonna have today and I'm really excited to dive in I'm excited too tell me uh Tate or tell us take us back to maybe to start your earliest memory of coming to the U S what did 4 year old Diana think was happening in this exact moment yeah so a lot of my memories of that are blurry I I was confused the whole time if I'm gonna be honest I um so my mother did um decide to come to the US because she left my dad uh escaping an abusive relationship um and so I knew that that was happening I knew that they were um fighting and stuff and she told us or she told me um we're going to a new home and I understood that the new home was a different country because my uh uncle was already living here he had been living here for a while already was a US citizen at the time already and everything um so I understood that it was a different country but I didn't understand what all it intended crossing the border um so I didn't I personally did not have a hard time crossing the border I actually was asleep when I crossed the border I was a little 4 year old um but I know my mother did have difficulty she did cross um through the river I had to swim and at the time I didn't know it like she's only shared all this with me years later and has shared her experience so I actually crossed before she did um and I was here for what she says was a week but I swear it was a month like little 4 year old me swears I was without my mother for a month um but yeah so I crossed first she had difficulties crossing I was already in Texas waiting on her and once again just confusion I knew I was in a different country I knew this was the new home we had come to but also I didn't have my mother so that was really scary um and I was in the care of some strangers that were my uncle's friends so that was also really scary um so yeah that's that's all I remember um it's kind of a blur I just remember being uncertain and a little scared and I mean like I said I did understand that it was a different country and I did understand that there were gonna be there was gonna be a new language that I was gonna have to learn which that part was also really scary um so I did I enrolled they my mother enrolled me in pre K in Texas when we first like when she finally made it here and we were a little established in Texas and I remember playing with the other kids and them speaking to me and I just did not understand I just um I just remember like I wanted to play with them too so I wanted to fit in and I wanted to be likable but I did not know what was going on so all I would do is just smile and nod that already would make you likable I just be like yeah yeah and I still clearly remember the my very the very first time couldn't understand what was being said and it was it's not because I understood the words that were being said but it was because like I just used context clues and it was we were in the playground and this little girl um was holding up a pink jacket that she found and she said is this yours and little 4 year old me was like okay she's handing me that the the tone of her voice sounds like she's asking a question I think she's asking if that is mine like obviously in Spanish in my little head yeah haha and I I remember just repeating it I went home that day and repeated is this yours is this yours is this yours that means you're asking someone if the object is theirs okay and that was the I understood and I said no because it wasn't mine although it's a really cute jacket but yeah that was like I still have that memory with me of the very first time I understood an English phrase at 4 years old that is so cute yeah you I mean we don't sometimes I think often times we think of okay I need to learn a language and kind of memorize the words and the structure but it it came up so naturally yeah for you and I think that's the the beautiful thing with having context around it you picked up on on it and also I created a memory yeah cause it seems like it stayed in your mind so for so long yes cause that was one of the first few interactions you've had yeah and I think from that moment I became very like just aware of body language and like tone of voice and you know all the other things that sometimes can be universal uh besides just spoken language um so that's really helpful also when you're trying to learn a different language it's not just about written words but when you're actually interacting with people um being able to perceive everything that that person is doing and also interpreting that to kind of use the context clues and understanding what they're saying absolutely now do you know about what was the plan I know you were so young at that age your mom seemed to be in a very difficult situation and what made it like the only way for her to maybe save you right and what made it where she was convinced this is what we need to do yeah so um the things that were going on in Mexico at that time now this is the early nineties Mexico does have a history of like classism and racism as well and um misogyny so I mean I think a lot a lot of parts of the world do um but at this time my mother was trying to leave my father um but she was not having a an easy time finding work because at that time employers would ask you if you know if you had kids and especially if you were a single mother they didn't see you as somebody that they wanted to employ because that meant that you were going to be asking time off from work if your child got sick if your child need to go be picked up at school so nobody was hiring my mom um she also does not have very high education level so that was another barrier my mom comes from a very poor background she she's from this little it's not even a town it's more like a village like it's and we have I don't know what to what to call them but we have those here in Alabama too like for example where I'm from Albertville is the town but then there's like a tiny little community called Kilpatrick that is not on Google Maps but but people recognize it and it's like a little is it in a Spanish Pueblo Pueblo un rancho un rancho where my mom's from Rancho specifically is like a rural place where there's like farm animals and stuff like that okay yeah so very very rural very tiny um part of another actual town that's where my mom comes from um lots of poverty um that she's experienced since since being born and so she she was just having a hard time like I said just facing all the structural and systemic violence in Mexico when it comes to just trying to you know raise a child and do something for a living she always tells me that she had a dream of me you know achieving everything she couldn't like that was her main motivator in Mexico if you're bilingual you are seen as someone who's very highly educated um as a matter of fact even if you've never come to the US or to any other country when you start going to like grad school and stuff you have to be bilingual that was another dream of her she's like I want my child to be bilingual and there's ways to become bilingual without you ever leaving Mexico there's schools that are bilingual there that um will prepare you to go on to higher education um but those schools are typically private and once again we she came from very poor background so she didn't have access to that um so she always just like envisioned this future for me and when she realized she couldn't give that to me with my father and that she was gonna end up being a single mother um my uncle who as I said earlier her brother was already living in the US and had been living in the US since like the late or early 60s I can't remember exactly um at that point he was already a US citizen so he had established his life in Texas he told her like well come to the US there's plenty of jobs like you don't need to have a high level of education to earn a decent living wage um and of course like your daughter will grow up being bilingual and so like that was to her that was like okay yeah that's what I've always wanted I didn't think that migrating to the U s was the way to get it but you know if I have my brother there and you know I already kind of have somewhere to land maybe that's what I need to do and so that is what she did um unfortunately it wasn't as easy as she had envisioned because my like I said my uncle US citizen petitioned for her so it was supposed to all be done the lawful way unfortunately it's not easy a lot of people always ask undocumented immigrants why don't you just go become a US citizen like you speak English all this all these things but you know my mom tried to do that and they the waiting time was 18 years 18 years yeah from the time that she that my uncle petitioned for her so of course like by then I would already be an adult and she was like no I need my child to grow up in a safer environment with more access to resources than I did now so that's when she made the decision to cross the border um unlawfully wow yeah wow and remind me when we're talking about the ranchito uh so what what's the name of the yeah what part of Mexico yeah so we are from central Mexico Guanajuato which um I feel like a lot of people don't know where Guanajuato is but if you know Guadalajara which is a big city Guadalajara is in the state of Jalisco and Guanajuato is right next to Jalisco so we're pretty close like the my the town where I'm from is about four hours away from Guadalajara um oh I'm sorry probably like three actually we're about four from Mexico City okay I was about to ask yeah just to situate yeah yeah I'm trying to like I'm trying to name the big cities I always and this is this is probably dumb but I like to compare because like my I grew up here in the States so I like to compare things in Mexico to the way like I um relate them to here in the US and I relate Guanajuato to Alabama and Jalisco to Georgia with the big city being Atlanta Guadalajara you know yes yes yes because like that's another thing that I run into when I go to other states and I've been in like uh national conferences and stuff and when people hear that I'm from Alabama they're like Alabama like people don't know where Alabama is like people in the state sometimes um so that's kind of how I relate on the okay to but then I'm like oh Atlanta oh okay yeah I know where that's at I'm like okay well the state next to it oh wow that's like a very long way to explain but yeah so my family is from Guatemala that's the state my mom her rancho is in the city or town of Uridia but the actual ranchoito is called San Vicente and then I was actually not born there because my mom left as a teenager to go work in the city or like a bigger town as a house domestic worker for people with money and um I actually I was born in Irapuato which is another bigger city in Guanajuato um but all of my family resides in Salamanca Salamanca Guanajuato um because that's where she met my dad okay yeah so when I when I talk about home I'm talking specifically well I I I always say I have two homes I have Albertville Alabama which is where I grew up and then Salamanca Guatemala which is where like that's where I go visit when I go to Mexico okay and we're gonna touch yeah yeah a little bit more about what home means for you yeah so but I like that you said that yeah it's hard for me when people are like where's home oh well I have two homes yeah yeah and I think that's beautiful yeah because you do connect with people you do make memories there there are so many aspects of what really home means to someone your journey you said started in Mexico but your life is deeply rooted in the US now um when do you feel most connected to your Mexican heritage and when do you feel the most American that's I love that question actually today's episode is brought to you by Red Cat Coffee House and their landmark series coffees as a cat lover I could not resist but introduce you specifically to this blend called Light Rails it features a cat on the label but not only that each blend features a landmark is inspired by a landmark of the city this one is inspired by our vibrant Rainbow Tunnel downtown and it has sweet fruits and mixed berries you can find the landmark series including blends like Ironworks Full Steam Ahead Alabama Audubond and John's Valley Trail either online at REDCAT locations or your local Piggly Wiggly it's coffee with a story and even with a feline charm um haha because that there there are moments for each so I do feel like it's funny cause I feel very Mexican when I'm in the States but then I go to Mexico and I'm like oh man I'm so American yes you're saying that and I'm like that's the same thing that happened to me I would feel the most French Canadian when I'm here in the US but then when I go back home I do feel different so that that's the same for you yes so here like I I've been here all my life I've been here for 28 years and I I've picked up on all the Alabaman things all and I want to say specifically Alabama because as I will get into later like people from a country are not a monolith like Americans are not a monolith you know like Americans from the northeast or nothing like us people from the southeast or from the West Coast or from the Midwest so I'm I'm gonna talk very specifically Alabama I feel very Alabaman I grew up going to football games um grew up going to trade day up in um Attalla and Collinsville I love boiled peanuts oh I love them too which one do you go with spicy regular Raging Cajun haha yes so I love all of that stuff um I mean I grew up going mudding with friends uh when I was a teenager I'm sorry what mudding tell me tell tell us more I only went like twice but uh it's something that it's like and I wonder if the kids still do it um somebody tell us if the kids still do it because I feel like the kids stop doing a lot of things um especially after Covid like things definitely shifted so I talk about certain things and cause I do work with uh college students and they're like what but mudding is uh this practice of just like going to like a muddy field and well the friend that I used to go with had a Jeep like a 4 wheel drive Jeep and we just like go in the MUD and like the MUD would splash everywhere on the car it was just fun like it was love it love it so I I grew up with very Alabaman customs not because not because my family imparted them on me but because just of where I grew up and my surroundings um I'm trying to think what else I mean I definitely another big thing that I feel is very Alabaman is just being outdoors like I think Alabama is a great place to come hike to come be with uh go look at waterfalls go swimming in creeks rivers all that kind of stuff that's something I grew up with and then of course like we have what I call the Alabaman outfit which is like an oversized T-shirt uh haha I love that you're that you said that because that's one of the things that stood out to me all the teenagers especially but maybe adults too but teenager girls yeah would wear those oversized t shirts yes and then those micro shorts and then the Chacos what are they Chacos are an outdoors uh sandal like they're great they're great they're great for like going hiking if you're gonna be like in the water as well I don't know how to describe them but um chunky they're very chunky because like the soul is what I call all terrain like like I said you can go hiking with them they're like strappy they they got the straps that you kind of adjust okay okay with Velcro no they they have like a like a little buckle that you like pull and it adjusts I mean there's other I grew up with the Chacos there's other sandals now like the Tevas and I think Crocs has made a sandal as well but very Alabaman I don't know if you agree or not well the T-shirt that stood out with the yeah the micro shorts and I grew up I grew up with that like I all my years of undergrad that's how I showed up to class and um I remember kind of going back and forth in my timeline but no that's good um I didn't start being able to visit Mexico again until 2015 and when I did I dressed up in my Albanian outfit to go to the airport my mother was like no you can't you can't go to Mexico like that how embarrassing what is your dad gonna say like that you don't know how to dress because it is something that doesn't happen in other cultures like in other cultures people dress up a little bit more you know and what does that mean for you or for your mom or well I think she was just like yeah you can do that here in Alabama it's acceptable to be more relaxed here and more comfortable um but no not over there like over there you're expected to to dress up and wear makeup and wear nice clothes and and I remember I just laughed at her and I was like I'm not gonna dress up to sit in a plane for four hours like they can think whatever they want but I mean I say that it's a very Albanian thing because that probably doesn't happen in New York you know yeah I think I mean there's definitely different influences so I can see how you know you would you would be prompt to dress up it's like if you go to a fashion city like Paris or yeah in Montreal yeah where I'm from I think people have a notion of style that differs from other maybe more rural places yeah and I think it goes with the type of activities that you do you mentioned oh uh we will go muddy is that yeah muddy I mean you would not dress up nice to do that no so I think it kind of makes sense each place too it's not that you won't dress up or dress down it's just more common yeah that's definitely when I feel very American when I'm prioritizing comfort over style haha yeah although I think I I I am um I'm now in a phase where I'm like oh I wanna look cute too I wanna I do wanna be more fashionable but I definitely grew up you know like I said comfort over style um so that's when I feel most American and like I said I feel it when I go to Mexico like I will wake up and we'll go for breakfast at the Mercado and I just want to wear my Alabama outfit yeah haha and people are like you're gonna go out of the house like that I'm like yeah what's wrong and like everything's covered like what but um and then when I feel my most Mexican oh man I think for me one of the things I love most about my culture is the food I I'm sure there's other Latin American countries that have great food but I'm very biased I think Mexico has the best and I love cooking I love going home and having my mom cook for me so that's when I'm the most grateful that I'm Mexican and when I and when I get to have those like home cooked meals because sometimes the restaurants don't do our cuisine service um oh I wanna ask okay there's two things that popped to my head right now but the first one is do you have one typical Mexican restaurant that is your go to when you don't want to cook but you're like I want authentic Mexican food yeah maybe we're gonna give a shout out to a local restaurant here but I'm really curious cause we do love Mexican food and um I mean I think for me it's hard to distinguish yeah what's the most authentic versus what's not yeah that's a hard question for me because I complain a lot about the lack of good good Mexican restaurants in Birmingham specifically and when I say Birmingham I'm talking about like central Birmingham because that is where I live um um Salud which recently opened it's a taqueria so they serve tacos I did go there recently and they do have really good tacos probably the best in Birmingham is it a brick brick and mortar or no it's a it's kind of like a do you know abios the bar yes so I think the I think the same owner opened it and it's like in downtown Birmingham I could be wrong so please don't quote me on that but I think well somehow they're related both establishments they it's like a bar slash taqueria so they do have a bar and they have like mixed drinks and and cocktails and stuff um but they also have tacos and they are pretty good like the tortillas were good cause one thing that I am big on is the tortilla in the taco I feel like a lot of people don't pay enough attention to the tortilla they just see it as like the vehicle for the meat into your mouth the tortilla also has to be good that's one of my biggest complaints about a lot of the places here that the tortilla isn't good maybe the rest of the stuff is but the tortilla the tortilla needs to be well and speaking of tortilla you gave me my first tortilla making experience yes that was at my friend's birthday yes and that's where I think maybe I've met you for the first time that was at the birthday or we have maybe seen each other a couple of times yes yes yeah yeah yeah yeah and um I got to make homemade tortillas and that was so cool because you have that little the press the press yeah so we rolled balls you show me yeah rolling the ball yeah the balls together like the same size and then you will put it on that press and yeah before that you do have to mix the the dough and knead it you gotta knead it really well okay yeah so yeah that was amazing we made tacos that night yeah we did yes and then you pan fried those individually yeah so I do like after you make the tortilla and this is like uh optional because so my mom is trying to be healthier so she's trying to cut out like any extra fats so she doesn't like dip her tortilla in hot oil um but if you go to like a lot of the taco places uh the street tacos they usually do to just give it a little bit more flavor but I'm trying to the last time I made tacos I did not dip them in oil too because I'm like oh maybe I should also watch my cholesterol do you still put it cook in the pan or in the oven no just on the um oh just on the pan you do put some yeah oil okay so it's less oil yeah just less oil yeah so yeah yeah I do remember that that was that was fun I I I I love cooking I'm really slow which is my problem what do you mean I don't know I feel like I if I'm gonna cook like I remember that night I think I was kind of anxious because everybody was there already and I was like oh no we're not done well we just had so many to make I think that's what happened and we're like 6 in the kitchen like yeah just rolling the bowls and so yeah to me the tortilla is really important yeah that was amazing yeah I love I love being part of that night thanks that was yeah that was fun um so yeah like I said salute is probably the best okay um that I've tried so far but other than that you have to find like the holes in the wall there's um I think it's closer to East Lake the neighborhood East Lake I want to say that's what that neighborhood is called but there's a um there's a Mexican store called El Hidalgo which translates to the like the sunflower um and they have like a restaurant in the store and that place is really good as well and it's really good for I really like my friends and I go there for like after a night of drinking the next day in Mexican culture you have for breakfast like like a soup like either pozole or menudo and I'll explain what those are in a bit or um there's another one um caldo de camaron uh some kind of seafood soup uh huh uh so all so menudo is um it's a soup it's made out of like the the cow's belly oh man there's a name for it in English I can't I can't remember so that's menudo um posole is also a soup it's usually made with pork or my mom's lighter version chicken um haha um and it's got um hominy which is corn like maize um and then the other stuff like caldo camarron means shrimp soup um there's also a ceviche soup which is just a seafood soup but those are um in our culture those are known for like curing your hangover so if you had like a Saturday night of like being out and drinking the next day you you go and have those and it cures your hangover um usually with a lot of spice cause that's also it makes you I guess it makes you sweat out the alcohol I don't know but you want it to be real spicy and it just like brings you back to life there is a soup actually called a which brings you back to life so that place is really good in Hiroson is really good for all of those but other than that in my opinion going out to like Pelham and like the the town surrounding Birmingham is where you find the good Latino food I say Latino cause it's not just Mexican there's really good like pupusas from El Salvador there's like a Colombian food truck out there too that I saw once saw um so yeah that's my experience with Latino food and Mexican food in Birmingham very nice very nice you know I had or we had some my husband and I traveled to Colombia and we had soup for breakfast lunch and it's super hot outside and you're thinking well no one is gonna have soup but you still have soup yes is that the same yes I don't know what it is about spicy and hot like even no matter the weather yes yes okay so before you've talked to me about people asking where are you from yeah in a way that feels frustrating and I wanna dive a little bit into that because I think that's interesting it's often a question that I mean I myself ask others and I get asked all the time what's a better way for people to approach conversation about identity and background what are your thoughts about that yeah I think so for me personally um I struggle with not feeling accepted in this country and in this state I think people see me and they're like you're not from here but the problem is that I am for a long time I also saw myself that way I'm like I'm not from here I'm not from here um I always thought that I'd go back to live in Mexico but after being here for so long and creating a life for yourself here it's hard I I don't know I think mid 20s to now I've been kind of even telling myself like you're from here like it's you belong here and it's okay but now it's a matter of convincing everybody else and the problem I have with being asked where are you from especially like after if you've heard me speak at least like I feel like at least just hear me speak you can tell I'm from here you're very eloquent too very what sorry eloquent oh yeah like you express yourself very very well yeah and I mean like I think I've lost a little bit of my North Alabama accent now but it does come back to me when I go visit like I'm from here and I'm from the south you know um so it does bother me when people ask me where are you from because this could be just a me thing I'm still you know kind of um working through that myself but it it's just kind of like a reminder as like I don't see you as belonging here and I think that's something that a lot of um children of immigrants like myself or immigrants like myself who have made a life for themselves here struggle with um at the end of the day like we we're here we're here in the state we've been here for a while we are what who keeps you know a lot of the agricultural sector going in the state which this is what the state is known for right poultry plants tomato fields um strawberry fields all these things we're from here we work this land you know um work really hard too yeah so I think that's why that's why it bothers me a little bit I prefer to be asked where did you grow up and that's also what I ask other people when I meet them um I might ask where are you from if you have a very different act to me it's about the accent okay okay I don't know why that's why I get asked where are you from yeah to me it's about the accent for sure like even when I'm in Mexico I met a lady this last time that I went to Mexico in my state of Guatemala and she did not have a Guatemala accent so I asked her like oh um in Mexico is very common to ask where you from in terms of like what state yeah you're from because Mexico states have different cultures as well like things are done differently in one state to another which I think is also true here in the states but uh in Mexico we just accept it and I did ask her oh like where are you from it turns out she was from Guatemala but had like left for a long time and had now come back so I don't know to me it's a lot about accents all that to say I have turned around to ask where did you grow up um also because I'm curious if you did grow up in Alabama what part of Alabama did you grow up in you know the south the center the north that's kind of my issue of like being asked where I'm from hmm feeling like I like you're you're telling me I don't belong yeah yeah yeah and I think sometimes having the the awareness of this type of situation or how it can come across I think is important and just thinking okay how should I ask it because I think most of the time people don't have bad intentions it just happen naturally like this and that's just common to ask but on the other end I could see how you know getting asked that all the time and just based on the look might come across as well you know are you implying that I I'm not from here yeah no cause I have had the where are you from and I always say Albertville uh which is northeast Alabama where I grew up and they'll be like no but where are you really from and it's like to me it's like where is anyone really from because what do you mean by that yeah okay sure like I can dive into the history and tell you that I was born in Guatemala but also where's anybody really from because this this land is indigenous it's native so none of us you know if we boil it down to that like I can ask someone that looks white like where are you really from like what European country did your ancestors come from so once again it's just kind of when I get asked those questions it does feel like okay yeah so only people that look a certain way belong here yeah you mentioned before something about like how in the dating world how guys would just use that as a pickup line yeah what has been your experience I will preface with this is my experience sure uh hopefully not a lot of people have had this experience unfortunately my experience hasn't been pleasant but um I don't know I I started obviously dating when I was a teenager in high school and stuff and I would get hit on by um by the by white guys for lack of a better term but you know it would turn out that it would either be like in a condescending way kind of like um I don't know like kind of kind of how we say like the little boys in the playground will pull your hair because they like you and I've always hated that it's like no you can just be nice like you don't have to be mean to a girl to say that because you like her so I would have that I had an an incident where I was talking to this one guy but he didn't want to make it public because his family he said his family was very racist and so he was afraid that they'd find out it was just positions that were uncomfortable and I was like I don't want to deal with this like I I you know if I'm gonna establish a romantic relationship with somebody I want it I wanna be accepted fully yeah you want him to be proud of who you are in in your entirety yeah so that was early experience later yeah I've been when I've gotten hit on on at bars here in Birmingham maybe it's happened like two or three times where I've been asked where are you from in a way that just seemed like I was being fetishized like I was something exotic I clearly remember this one time I went out with some of my friends and we're all Latina we're all um I remember two of us Mexican one Colombian one Cuban and we're just like walking into the bar and somebody says something about like oh look at them they're so exotic or something I don't know it's just it's it's just not a nice feeling I I don't I don't like it it's almost like kept calling yeah well yeah but also like the only reason I'm attracted to you right now it's because you're like exotic and instead of like I'm just a person just like you you know like I just once again the the the I I belong here like I'm not on display I'm not like a rare object on display um so I've I've had that I um like I said I've been a lot of those times those guys will come on to me very in a very condescending way like oh I bet you don't know this or I bet you don't like little things like that that's I don't know I particularly don't enjoy it um I'm like uh you need better flirting skills that um oh and the story I was I couldn't remember what story I wanted to tell you but I just remembered it when I was I want to say I was like 18 or nineteen one of my friends boyfriend introduced me to his friend and later I found out he was trying to set us up and later I found out it was because cause she later told me oh yeah it's because he heard that he's looking for a Mexican wife I was like that's really weird why like does he want to learn Spanish does he want to travel to Mexico oh no it's because he heard that Mexican wives are really good they're really subservient and they are really good at cooking like that it's guaranteed that you'll be like a good housewife haha and I was like well first of all I would not make a good Mexican wife haha that and also like that's not cool like there's more to me than that you know yeah so those are the experiences I've had unfortunately and I've also had good experiences I've also had like you know here and there I've had good experiences dating uh white men but overall I do have like kind of that aversion unfortunately and you know for a long time I thought it was all in my head like maybe you know I'm just over exaggerating but I did fall into the the TikTok rabbit hole one time and I discovered Passport Bros now what are Passport Bros so it's these it's typically I wanna I think Europeans too but typically American men um who are going to these third world countries mainly like Latin America Asia as well um to look for a wife because the women here in the States are too empowered and haha they don't want that that's not attractive they want somebody once again like reminisce very what traditional yeah reminisce what that one guy said that was looking for a Mexican wife um someone that's gonna be subservient and stay at home and you know do everything for him because these American women don't want to do that anymore um and so and of course like the added bonus of if I bring her to the States and you know fix her green card all that stuff like she it's kind of like indentured servitude a little bit you know I that's just how I interpret it it's a little icky I did not like that and kind of like a kind of affirmed what I've had been feeling in the past like okay I'm not crazy like there's something going on here and I do wanna say I don't think that it's just white American men unfortunately I did grow up in a predominantly white town so those were my experiences but you know I think even even men of color but it is like an American thing and unfortunately uh the thing is that they're saying that American women are just too empowered and don't want to you know fill in those traditional roles yeah I mean I think you're a very driven woman and you know one of the reasons I invited you is because you like to use your voice and I think using our voices is really important as women as men as really anyone that has a message that has a passion that has something to say a cause to defend to each its own at the end of the day but I consider myself also pretty driven and of course when I hear that I'm like hmm like not that it rubs me the wrong way but I'm like okay well I'm thinking you know if that's the way they wanna do it fine but I don't necessarily yeah like I want nothing to do with that yeah this is not necessarily um something that I would support in any way some people might prefer that way of living but it's kind of also going out of their way that's an interesting yeah and with the whole like exotic Latina thing I have seen women who play into that because maybe they like it they like the attention that's also like yeah that's their decision yeah I personally Vienna does not want that yeah well that's good like you're able to be fetishized I don't want to be yeah your traditional housewife you're putting that boundary for yourself yeah yeah and that's important with the the disclaimer that I do love to cook but if you if you see me as only a cook for you that's a turn off you know I relate to some of the things you said around that in the sense that what am I recognized for and I think it goes hand in hand with stereotypes yeah and I'll give you an example of what I mean with this is I think as women as girls little girls too we're most likely to get compliments about our physical attributes the smile well what we can do for others too okay so like empathy those kind of more maybe feminine yeah feminine traits whether it's how we act or how we look and then little boys or men grown up men will most likely be complimented on how strong they are on how fast they run you know that little boy and trying to break that cycle or trying to break that image I think that's why at least for me it comes across as well can you compliment on how smart I am yeah can you compliment me on something that might not come as naturally if you maybe look at me or interact with me that yeah you might think I'm kind but I want you to see other aspect and see me kind of a 3 60 image or 3 60 personality because these traits are important to me and I think that makes me who I am and it's not just that nice look that defines me it reduces you or it gives me the impression at times that I get reduced to my physical attributes or my feminine traits and it bothers me because I think there are already enough stereotypes out there in the world living in Canada also got influenced by the American culture living in North America and I mean back in the days back in when I was a teenager the magazines and the commercials they were very very very sexist more than today even though it's still maybe a lot more yeah and and I think all that impact how we perceive ourselves and and it has a a tremendous um impact and gives a connotation to the world it gives a message a general message that then trying to debunk that message yeah might become hard yeah yeah for sure it definitely it definitely changes how we view ourselves like you said everything that I've talked about my identity whether it's being a woman or being Mexican American I think everything that I fight for is mainly for me because I yeah I don't I don't wanna tolerate you saying that I don't belong here because I want to feel like I like I want to be able to tell myself I belong you know at the end of the day I don't want you to see me as just you know somebody that's gonna be your house worker your free house worker because that's not how I wanna see myself I wanna see myself as smart creative uh interesting funny all these other things driven it's mostly for like it's not because I'm like mad at people it's because like for me I want to be able to see myself in those ways and it's really easy to get caught up in how society views you and like later believe it yourself totally yeah I'd like us to dive a little bit into your mission and your impact you help young Latinas navigate conversations about sexual health education and access to resources which by the way this is not something we learn at school for for the most part unfortunately especially in Alabama okay I I don't know yeah I'd love to hear more so what's conversation that stuck with you the hardest the most surprising or the most rewarding oh man um so there's been a few um one that have really stuck with me in continuing the work that I currently do is so like I said Alabama has a problem and this is not just with Latinos or um immigrants or anything this is a statewide problem like everybody's affected by this we don't receive proper sex education in our schools young people um are out here making choices uninformed choices and that's why we have such high rates of unplanned pregnancies STI's and all that kind of stuff that's just in general now we also have rural Alabama problems when it comes to health their hospitals are severely underfunded under resourced understaffed it was very evident during the covid pandemic a lot of people in rural places died because they didn't have enough equipment in their hospitals and rural hospitals to keep them alive like UAB Hospital here was great we we have all the resources but out in rural Alabama this was a big issue so all that's just to preface the story I'm about to tell I through my work I do qualitative research which is basically just sitting and having conversations with uh the population of interest to learn more about you know what their needs are and so I did travel out to rural Alabama um small town and I talked to this young woman and one of the stories she shared with me was that she had a problem with one of her ovaries when she was 18 it was like twisted around and that it was causing her great pain now she went and told her mom about it and her mom panicked because she told she she didn't understand what could be happening she thought like oh you're probably pregnant um and she got in trouble with her mom her mom yelled at her because she was like you've been you've probably been doing the things I told you not to do and now you're pregnant and you know this is what this is what you get da da da so that happened but she this girl was like I hadn't done anything to to get pregnant so I you know I felt shame now I now I feel shame because apparently I'm not supposed to have any symptoms with my reproductive organs unless I'm already sexually active and pregnant but that was not true for me so then there must be something terribly wrong with me you know all these like internalized messages and of course she didn't know anything because she wasn't taught reproductive health or sex education in school so they finally take her to the hospital in her rural town the hospital doesn't have the proper equipment to diagnose her so they still don't know what's going on they had to send her to to Birmingham to UAB and so she they had to come all the way over here drive to be seen and they finally found what was going on with her which is something that she she did nothing to cause you know even though now she's felt all the shame and stigma around it but um they finally diagnosed her they finally treated her but only until she had to come all the way to UAB which is another thing the rural communities in Alabama very underserved when it comes to health in general like I said their hospitals are underfunded but then people don't people don't always have transportation methods to come to Birmingham that really stuck with me because I too have a story of when I was like 18 and I had food poisoning and I woke up one day throwing up and I too had not become sexually active yet and my mom got mad at me cause she was like you better not be pregnant this is what happens when you're pregnant oh wow so you know like just that shame and that stigma for sometimes for our parents who are well they mean well they they're looking out for us and they don't want us to become pregnant at a young age and unplanned and all that but they just don't know how to communicate it or how to you know pass on the education to us what little they might have to because these are generational things unfortunately so there's that but also the problem of living in rural Alabama with very limited resources and how you know you have to find a way to come to Birmingham or whatever other big city maybe Huntsville is closer to you to actually get those resources and a lot of people don't have access to come all the way out here you know so it was to me it was like a very it was a problem of unfortunately lack of education both on the daughter and the mother uh lack of resources uh both in the family but also in the community at large and it just speaks to the health problems we have in rural Alabama so that one really stuck with me but I've also had I've conducted focus groups and when I have the group uh and everyone's talking with each other and you know I'm just I'm just sitting there taking notes taking notes and learning for to so that it can inform my next project the biggest feedback I've gotten from focus groups is that they want more of that they want more of like that young women want more of a space where they can actually talk about you know what it's like to to be in a female body um and have space to share with each other and normalize these conversations desensitize these conversations and how it felt very much like a sisterhood you know even if we were just there for two hours and I've encouraged them like if you guys wanna like become friends after this you can I cannot give you each other's information yeah just like from everything that I've been able to to listen to from young women throughout Alabama like there's such a need what age are we talking uh 16 to 21 okay um there's just such a need for something as simple as having conversations you know obviously like we can talk about the need for more resources being allocated to rural parts of Alabama something as simple as just having a space to chat and to be like oh you get those really bad cramps so do I you know what do you do oh I take you know I like to get like a warm compress and like you know put it on my pelvic area stuff like that like very simple thing or just feeling like you're not crazy like I have these I get more anxiety around my period oh so do I okay so I'm not alone I'm not crazy you know those those types of conversations yeah that's interesting it's definitely up for debate as far as who should own the responsibility and also you talking about this it makes me think in a relationship let's say or even if you have siblings you have a girl and a boy and just for family dynamic understanding well you know your sister or your wife your girlfriend whatever is going through her period okay a minute ago we were talking about how it's impacting different people around you whether it's your family family members you might not be educated on what that means to have a woman in your life I mean as basic as that might sound yeah at first let's say if you grew up with just brothers you're not gonna know what girls go through later on your girlfriend unless someone tells you and what unless someone educates you or maybe you go to chat GBT these days to find out right uh so and it's interesting like who should own that responsibility of educating because some people might have a very different view of what that means or when it should be talk about what are your thoughts about that I think it should be general knowledge you know I think um the way we have we have drivers ed in high schools to teach kids how to drive we need to have sex ed like I I just it's general knowledge I think you know um you mentioned like young boys young men knowing these things yes they need to know and I'm sure they have stuff that we need to learn about too actually I know they have stuff that we need to learn about too it's just it should be general knowledge to me that's my opinion um I think should the conversations be had at home as well yes I definitely agree with that but unfortunately we live as it stands today even in in 2025 in Alabama we still live in a culture that stigmatizes these conversations so I I know that the majority of people aren't having them at home um we still even as adults it's still uncomfortable to talk about sex you know like but why I mean yeah but why I think it's just how we were brought up you know yeah I didn't grow up where we would talk about it openly I think though some conversations as adults are way more open than I know if I look at the comfort level I have with my mom to bring up any topic related to sex or related to just relationships in general um there's not many taboos but if I think of not that it happened but like my in laws my family here in Alabama uh that would be totally different I know that from a fact or if my husband to his parents right I think that dynamic on this particular topic totally different but I still didn't get educated by my mom or a parent or or someone in my family at a young age or or like as a teenager I didn't but that wasn't something really we talked about even though now there's not too many taboos so I think that's a great thing to not have that many taboos but also looking back I'm thinking I really didn't know yeah you don't know what you don't know until you know it yeah yes that part um and you know it's something it's so much bigger than just sex like the act um also what is sex right there's people have the definition of sex looking a certain way that erases you know uh so many other forms of sex that people are having but even just that just how to have a healthy relationship I think that's where it all starts um I see so many young women that have normalized certain types of abuses um whether it be like micro you know micro aggressions I talked yeah micro aggressions I talked about like I will not put up with um men seeing me as just like yeah somebody that's here to please them whether it be like even just as in acts of service or whatever now I will do that for the partner that I love but I don't want to be seen as just that and I've seen in my conversations with young women I have heard like oh you know I think I never thought that that was bad or one conversation that also stuck there's just been so many conversations that have stuck with me but one of them was like I think I was abused you know and it's like I love that you're saying that you're going there because yeah that's part of the education yeah and I and I think when we talk about sexual education um especially once again I'm talking about my context here in Alabama and also coming cause my family from Guanajuato is also pretty conservative like the culture is also pretty conservative we just think like oh no like we don't we don't want to talk about that but there's so much more before you even get to the having sex part like how make sure that you're not getting there by being coerced by being you know misled so there's like that whole conversation is also not being had unfortunately but it goes with the sexual education conversation and so that to me is why you know I think it should just be general knowledge you know it can start as young as you know your child being 3 and you telling them like if you don't feel comfortable with a stranger or even you know your uncle or auntie hugging you or touching you in a certain way yep you can say no yep like you're and respecting and having an adult respect yes those words from the child yes to say yeah do not do or do something yeah and that's not weird or sexual but if you normalize your child not following their instinct and allowing people to touch them that they don't like even if it's as simple as a hug you know that now that child grows up internalizing like this is just something that is done to me whether I like it or not and can it can lead to really ugly things unfortunately well yeah thank thanks for mentioning that I think that's such an important aspect of it too and we might disregard that um in the early days because oh this is my child my child you know you want to instill some discipline but at the same time yeah you wanna instill the confidence into that little human yeah yeah to be respected and that they have autonomy too yeah to have autonomy yeah yeah absolutely I mentioned DACA the DACA program earlier it has shaped the lives of so many young immigrants including you what was it like advocating in DC for the program was there a specific moment in that experience that made you feel wow I belong in this fight yeah so DACA stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals um it never became a policy it was a kind of a program that president former President Obama established in 2012 so yeah Dhaka gave people like myself who were brought here from a young age and we're basically from here but except for our documentation says otherwise it gave us a chance to have a driver's license to uh get a Social Security number um and to work you know to work lawfully to be counted in the system so that we can undocumented I wanna I wanna preface this undocumented workers a lot of them do pay taxes already they have to get an I ten number which is an individual tax identification number I ten so you can pay taxes even without a Social Security number but now with a Social Security number you can actually like be recognized in the system and do your income taxes and stuff Dhaka to me was very important it is what allowed me to start going to college back in 2013 because prior prior to that I could not even enroll in Alabama universities it was what allowed me to to get a driver's license to now I can drive without the fear of you know I can drive to work without the fear of getting pulled over and getting my car uh impounded and things which happened to me before all of this in 2017 when well now current President Trump I was gonna say former but now current is again uh decided to rescind DACA it brought a lot of fear to my community because it felt like DACA felt like we could finally stop holding our breaths we could finally breathe more calmly it still didn't give us a sense of like full security because it was a thing that could be taken away from us at any moment as we saw in 2017 but hey at least now we um we can work lawfully we can contribute to the society we can go to school we can study further ourselves professionally um so when that happened it it it was I can't describe the feeling and at that moment I already had my green card too so I didn't even have DOC anymore but I just knew what it could feel like because I had lived for so long without without any kind of reassurance of Protection from deportation of wondering like what's my life gonna be like if I can't further myself professionally I you know what am I gonna do with all all of this not to do my own horn but like I feel like I'm very skillful person and you know I I won't be able to aspire too much because I all there's like roadblocks at all of these like steps to to advance my myself professionally it felt like kind of having the rug pulled from under you you know and like falling back down and at that moment I you know I knew I had to use my platform I had to use the privilege that I now had and we had to continue fighting for Dhaka because it was for so long and once again Dhaka in itself is kind of like if you ask for bread and they give you crumbs it's it's just crumbs but oh my gosh for so long I had nothing and now like at least I have these little crumbs cause Daka once again it's no assurance and and to this moment like no new applicants are being accepted so I think uh the way the program is right now like if you had it from when you got it back in the day when it was still not um restricted by the Trump administration that's the only reason you have it um so once again DOC is not great in itself but it's still like better than nothing it's something yeah yeah and so you know when we were we we held some protests here in Birmingham uh and throughout Alabama but also going to DC and being in front of the capital and in front of the court when when they were doing the hearings to to appeal it it was just so emotional to me because it was for so long growing up in Albertville I felt like an outsider even with other Latino kids because a lot of them were born here so a lot of them didn't have this experience that I had that I really didn't belong here so I already look was looked at like I didn't belong because of the way I look but then I didn't I didn't even have the proper documentation to to feel secure in this country and so I felt so alone for so long even if I was surrounded by other Mexican Americans and so going to DC and being surrounded by all these other um young people that grew up like me felt like we're here we're here we've been here and we've been contributing to society and you know still all of that is overlooked and we're basically we're used as ponds for you know they're whatever political agenda we're used to we're the scapegoat you know whatever's going on wrong in the country like right now the price of eggs it's not our fault you know but they make it we're we're used as the scapegoat and it's like it was really nice to feel like I wasn't alone even though we were like united by the struggle and by all this uncertainty so that that to me was huge also just meeting the parents cause there was a lot of parents there protesting as well people like me are known as dreamers because back in 2001 um there was a law that was um presented called the dream act and the dream was it was an acronym and I can't remember exactly now what each letter stood for but you know the community adopted it and you know the dream act was supposed to be for us it's not past it never passed okay it's supposed to lead to a pathway to citizenship never passed um but that's kind of why we're known as the Dreamers and to me our the real dreamers are our parents like my mom is the one that dreamt for me to have all of these resources that I now have to be bilingual because like I said that's seen as something that you're highly educated if you're bilingual at least in Mexico and she had that dream for me I was 4 years old I just inherited yeah you inherited that dream I did not I was just you know trying to play with my little dolls so she's to me the original dreamer our parents are original dreamers and to see how much they fight for us even when they know that they might not get anything out of it um because once again the Dhaka program and the dream act were specifically for us they were never guaranteeing our parents any Protection from deportation and and our parents the parents at these protests knew that but they were like I don't care I just want my kid to feel safe to have access to resources I never had to be protected from being deported in their new from their new home because this is this is our home like this is my home and so that to me like our parents deserve so much more than you know our society is willing to give them and that to me was where you know what fueled my drive to continue the fight and to this day right um now I'm of the belief that they they deserve so much more and that I I want them to have that Protection unfortunately there hasn't been any programs introduced to give them Protection but to me our parents are the original dreamers for the people that think well they're not initially and I know and this is harsh because but I know it's part of the conversation that think they're not from America when you're like well we're suffering they're suffering right now they're just trying to get a better life and I'm sure it breaks your heart probably to hear that like what do you say to these people that just see it as a individualist need because truly I think that what it comes down to and I just I recently became citizen American citizen studying for the civics test there's 100 questions you have to study it talks about the values that comes along with that when I compare that to Canada we have much more of an approach that we live in the society in the community and not so much focus on our individualist needs yeah and then it's like okay what does that mean now for me like how do I welcome maybe both to live side by side so I think it ties well into that difference of perspective between maybe Americans that don't know much about the reality of Mexicans in Mexico what would you tell those Americans that think of it this way we'll stay in your country like you're not no one gave you the freedom to come here or you know have that kind of a or do it the right way yeah yeah yeah what would you say to these people no um it's it's complicated for me I to those people I say like we're we're from here too we've been here like we're so my story really starts I think I earlier I shared my story start started when I was 4 and I came here but my my story really if if we go back in terms of like me belonging to this country my story starts in early the early 80s or no I'm sorry the early 60s really which is when my uncle was pretty much like the US government had the Bracero program which is when they were asking literally begging Mexican workers to come to the States to work the fields to work the railroads that were being built at that time because they didn't have enough people here in the States to do the work and I think it it did have to do with the fact that a lot of people a lot of Americans were gone uh for World War 2 and they they were abroad at war the history of Mexicans coming to the US to work whether it be because they decided to or because the government um asked them to goes way back and it's still happening today which is something I want to touch on later going back to like the kind of like viewing society as more of a collective instead of an individualistic that is something that is very unique to America and to me it really breaks my heart um maybe this is one one of the ways that I feel very Mexican because we need each other as human beings we need each other because I do work in the public health health field I read so much literature on how people who live in collectives have better health outcomes you know that's just the oh yeah the scientific literature is there so there's that but also the United States economy has always been dependent on immigrant labor like from the beginning well actually no I take that back because from the beginning it was dependent on slave labor um but when we abolish that you know we have to find other ways to get some of these jobs done that you know other Americans didn't want to do so for so long that's that's that's how my story begins my my uncle was brought here with a brazados program and that's how eventually he was able to get you know um his US citizenship because he he did it the right way I guess which was like coming here because the US was literally asking Mexicans please come here to work the fields the agricultural industry uh the railroads all that kind of stuff later when you start working here and you start making this your home you're like oh okay well maybe I wanna bring some of my family over which isn't even encouraged right in that when you do the US citizenship like that's one of the things you can bring your family it's like okay that doesn't sound like a bad idea like I'm I'm have a pretty steady job here like is it hard sure but you know um that is one thing I guess a stereotype about Mexicans were really hard workers and I think it is true for better or for worse haha that's actually how it all started for me and I would urge Americans to Americans who have this idea of like you're invading my country or you're here and you didn't do it the right way to look into its history like your government was really the one asking for us to come and now that we've made a life for ourselves here like cause like I said personally I never knew if Alabama was gonna be my forever home I always thought like at any moment I could get deported or any moment I choose to go back you know even though I did not know Mexico because my childhood was here in Alabama whether we want it or not once we start having like a job and a home and community like it's easier to stay sometimes you know and I did wanna mention this thing of like looking for cheaper labor more accessible labor in other countries is still happening today there are still so many big corporations that are um bringing refugees over and hiring them in their factories for a much lower wage unfortunately than they would pay the average American it's still happening today like to this day I I'm not even gonna mention what plants because I'm not even gonna do that I'm haha you can go look for it yourself and please do but there's a plant here in Alabama who was caught with having child labor from uh Central America um are you serious yes as recent as like a year or two ago so it's still happening today unfortunately and like you can scapegoat us all you want you can blame us but you know maybe there's other structural things that we need to look at I still I asked myself this a lot and I did when I was a teenager why am I here you know I I didn't choose this why am I here and if we look at structural and economic systems here in the US like we can we can really like trace it back to where it comes from unfortunately so we're a part of your economy we're a part of your communities for better or for worse like whether we like it or not sometimes we don't like it either trust me but we're here once again we're who works the the land we have a saying in in Spanish that says LA Tierra es LA traba the land is of who works it uh and I'm not saying like I think that this land belongs to me now because maybe my mother has worked it but I am saying that I am of this land you know you're a contributor yeah yeah pinging back on what you shared if one thing in your journey had gone differently maybe your mom wasn't caught crossing the first time or the DACA program never existed how do you think your life would look today yeah that's a really good question that I've asked myself many times I um I grew up thinking like what would have have been like if I just grew up in my hometown in Mexico who would I be would I still cause I grew up listening to a lot of punk rock um and heavy stuff like that and I would I still listen to that like was that a product of me being raised in the States or do people in Mexico listen to this turns out people in Mexico do listen to that so maybe I would still be that um rebellious teenager um but 2 another thing with you mentioned the Daka program um the Daka program is really what helped me kind of decide that this was my home and this is where I was staying because I went on to university and did all of that here in Alabama but for a long time um before that I was considering leaving the state maybe even the country there are other states in the US who make it easier for immigrants to go to university and to have an education and to further themselves professionally so I was looking into that I was looking into New York California I don't know I've I've asked myself too like I like I said I've decided I'm Alabaman I even if I try to fight it I can't help it you know but who would I be if like Daka hadn't passed and I did have to go to another state to to seek um higher education I don't know um is it something you wanted to do to get higher education yes or were you pushed by your mom to to do it because she's like no actually my mom didn't you owe me this I don't know like no actually you know like didn't want me to leave Alabama because my culture too like you do try to stay close to your parents um we are very family oriented she actually had bought some property in um in Kill Patrick is where she lives now which is what I was telling you about like it's Albertville but it's not really it's like a tinier little community outside of Albertville back in 2,011 there was a really anti immigrant law here passed in Alabama HB 56 which is around the time I was making plans to leave and she said I'm not leaving like if I leave it's cause they they deport me they take me out because to her she'd already bought her land and her home and she was like this once again like when you start setting down these roots it's hard to leave this is your home now whether it's a whether your home is welcoming to you or not unfortunately like this is your home and that's how my mom saw it she was like she was like my kids are in school here like I have now bought this land uh in this this home I can't leave like I don't I don't know what the way of life is in New York or California so this is my home and the only way I'm leaving is if they kick me out and that was her stance I was I did not agree I was like no why do you want to stay here when when where we're being treated with no dignity or respect but she's like you know it is what it is this is my home so I actually was looking into leaving just because I did want to pursue higher education and um I I love learning interacting with people that are look different than me have come from different backgrounds than me cause that is part of learning as well and so that was always my dream to to attend university and receive a degree just for the sake of the learning experience and obviously for the professional opportunities later so I I really fully did think either I go to another state or maybe I go back to Mexico I've already have my bilingual education I could probably you know do something over there with my life so those were the kind of like the three options that I really considered around 2,011 in the end like I said around 2012 later the doca program was passed and I didn't end up doing any of those and I ended up staying here in Alabama which I really like too because I'm getting the chance to contribute back to the state that I call my home whether it's for reasons that the majority of Albanians like or not I I still find validation in myself that you know I am contributing to our state absolutely hmm you've lived between two cultures your whole life like you mentioned what's one cultural difference or language misunderstanding that made you stop and think wow people see the world so differently than I do yeah when you're speaking in Spanish or in like in a Spanish I want to say Spanish but like Hispanic Latino cultural setting versus English and the American culture more the differences I find there is just in English we're so much more efficient with words like things are not as wordy things are very direct straightforward which doesn't happen in Spanish in Spanish things are wordier things are when I'm communicating in Mexico in Spanish with my family like there's always like this dance around how to say things so that you don't so that you come off as polite as possible you don't wanna hurt people's feelings and that can be nice but that can also be a little frustrating sometimes because especially as a woman uh we talked a little bit earlier like women are already socialize to be more subservient and more like caring about caring about everyone else but themselves and then you add that other cultural nuance of um the way we communicate and it has made me a people pleaser so I'm currently in learning that you should also care about yourself you know you should also if you want to be direct with with the way you communicate you can be and it does not mean that you're a bad person that is one thing that the Spanish language has a little bit it's more like you just kind of dance around things a little bit more if you're at dinner you'll ask can you please pass me the salt or may I please have the salt or something that's not as direct in English I would say like can you pass me the salt but in um Spanish you would say I don't know it's like I think I need to like think about it more but it it's very much like that of like you dance around things so that it's not as direct is the salt near you yes yes like I'm trying to inconvenience you the least possible okay haha but I love that you bring that distinction because these are things that sometimes we don't think about no you don't think about it on how the language works yes so yes that's an interesting fact and I think too and then this has been like my partner observed this and pointed out to me I had not realized it but in Spanish I actually my voice is the little bit more high my more high pitched more like more feminine okay and in English it's not and like I'm more relaxed in English and I think it's just like I think it definitely like cultural you know like when I growing up like I said here in Alabama like we're just more relaxed we're just more we do that we do a little bit of dance around your feelings kind of thing here too because it is the southern culture we do have that southern southern hospitality thing which I always joke about in my I say I'm a recovering people pleaser and I'm like being between these two cultures did not help you know you know being a woman being socialized as a woman and then you know being socialized as a Mexican woman but also a woman living in the south in Alabama did not help the perfect ingredients for being a people pleaser in English you know like I said things are more direct uh they come off as a little bit more cold going back to Spanish uh that is one thing that I like about like the Spanish language it it is warmer we just like show our warmth and love like for example abuelita instead of abuela which means grandmother I love that we say I will like which is the um smaller yeah diminutive I think it's what it's called yeah okay does that mean your grandma is tiny no okay it doesn't but it just like making things like adding the ETA or Eto which makes the casita being Benito I mean casita yeah like it just makes it we do that like to uh huh like there's more like love there um we also you know for endearing terms we have so many we have obviously mi amor mi cielo mi vida which like and my mom will call me that you know and it just mi cielo mi vida yeah and you can also call like your significant other those things mi cielo means my sky mi vida means my life but yeah it's so much warmer so much more like endearing and loving because we do care a lot about I guess how other people feel it's just so I do love that aspect about the Spanish language it just feels so much more loving I'm trying to think of other examples I think these are great examples and it gives a it gives an an additional layer into the Spanish language yeah I don't know if that explains why I love Spanish so much but it definitely it's such a warm language and you just feel loved within it like I said um it is beautiful I mean yeah it's just there's just there's so much passion to it but yes as well like yes haha and I always joke joke that you know I can be a little extra sometimes because I grew up watching telenovelas and telenovelas are dramatic but also like that's just our culture we are very like passionate about things whether it's good or it's bad if it's bad we hate it and we hate it with a passion but if it's good we love it too and we love it with a passion so that that is like what I love about the Spanish language that I think we don't have as much of in the English language but I do love the English language and the English culture as well because it's like I said less wordy more direct it gets to the point you know and that kind of pros and cons of each I guess and would you translate telenovelas for TV shows yeah reality shows yeah so I think the US also had these soap operas is what they were called yep I don't know if they are still a thing but basically telenovelas are just they actually originated as radio shows like kind of like a podcast audiobook and that's why they're so dramatic because they were meant for like um women in their homes while they were cooking and cleaning they could hear it cause there's this thing happens in the telenovelas where they think out loud like oh she will not get away with this because you know I've got this evil plan to like sabotage her and she's and the character will be saying it out loud yep okay and it's and that's why it's so dramatic it's like nobody does that in real life you just think you just have your thoughts but the purpose of that was so like while you're cooking and cleaning and doing all your chores you could still even if you weren't sitting there listening to it you could still know the plot and what was going on and I think once again the US had this too in soap operas but they're pretty much like these very dramatic TV series usually there was a love triangle or somebody somebody had an unknown child or I don't know these plots always had drama to it but they're very entertaining very entertaining I think that's a great transition to or truth dare or debunk segment yeah that's a game that I call truth dare or debunk and we'll play a couple of rounds if that's okay with you and for each round you'll choose either a truth where you share a surprising cultural fact a dare like teaching us a phrase in your native language or a debunk where you clarify a common stereotype about your culture are you ready yes okay would you pick truth dare or debunk um let me do dare so dare to teach can you share a phrase in your native language that everyone should know and also tell us what it means and I can yeah try to give it a go as well yes um so I I'm trying to think so I think my favorite right now especially that I'm getting older and I do work with younger women is echaleganas echaleganas translates literally translates to like throw eagerness into it oh I remember that's a phrase that my mom I grew up my mom telling me it's a contraction Mika oh it's for me Mika my daughter but it's a contract oh sorry it's a contraction we've like mixed the two words together now it's just Mika so there's a thing that I heard my mom telling me to to like put give it your all like you know put effort into what you're doing and of course that was for school that was for whatever I remember like when I was auditioning for the dance team at school you know and you know sometimes I would be putting and I still didn't get the result that I wanted so I would be like it would frustrate me that she would tell me that and it's like you know like that sometimes that's not all that it entails you know like I need more like you know I didn't make an a on that exam and I put a lot of eagerness into it I you know I gave it my all cause that's what it translates to idiomatically give it your all uh do your best yep um okay so say it one more time I'll try to say it ichale ganas Mika ganas ganas yeah ichale ganas Mika if you wanna add it ichale ganas Mika ichale ganas Mika yeah and so like I think it's a funny saying because like I said I grew up hearing it and sometimes it would frustrate me that I am doing my best and I'm still not getting the result I want but I do find now that I'm older and I'm working with young women I find myself telling them that telling them and I'm like no I'm becoming my mother but yeah it's okay it's not I mean for you to say it does it do you think it come across as a negative thing or more supportive I think it's supportive it's definitely supportive yeah I think like I said it's just funny for me because I remember being like being you know and I'm still not getting the result I want yeah so that's why it's funny to me that now I find myself saying it to these younger people and I'm like I am an old lady haha but yeah that's that is very like that it's a saying that really reminds me of my mother yeah round 2 truth there or debunk um let's do debunk what's the biggest stereotype about your culture that's totally false so time to bring those stereotypes and change perception that people might have yeah debunk a stereotype uh there is the stereotype that we're all criminals or related to a criminal I wanna say mainly because our existence has been criminalized like you could say that I was a criminal for 19 years um even though I I would argue that I was just existing haha so there's that but also there are big stereotypes about you know um the cartels and um the big drug lords that have come out of Latin America unfortunately and I will tell you this even people that still live in Mexico they're like we want nothing to do with them like you know and there once again if we trace the thread back to systemic stuff um there are bigger issues there but you know a lot of us especially like Mexicans and and I'll say I keep saying for better for worse that we're really hard workers because sometimes I feel like we really need to chill out we really need to take a break sometimes um but we for the most part most of us are just trying to to work hard for what we have and to like provide back for our families because we are very family oriented we are very of that collective culture like if if I succeed my I want my whole family to succeed the whole stereotype that most of us are criminals that most of us are involved with you know selling drugs or you know in this country unlawfully um like I said once again that part I would argue that we our existence has just been criminalized but that to me that's one of the most painful stereotypes because for the most part at least the community that I grew up in we just we're just trying to work and provide for ourselves and our families yeah one thing that you said and I can cut off me talking here like what you're saying is a continuation but you I really like that you said if being hard working and caring about our family's well being is a crime then maybe we are I guess yeah that I'm glad you reminded me being here unlawfully real quick public service announcement I don't like when people call us illegals because no human is illegal and that's very dehumanizing it goes back to like how you see how others see you and then you end up seeing yourself bad so how do you call how do you um undocumented people undocumented people undocumented this country has criminalized that but I mean if being hard working and caring about our families is a crime then I guess maybe we are criminals in that way round three would you like to do a truth there or debunk um let's do a truth what's one thing about your culture that people assume is true but actually is true it actually is true oh man that we love to eat I don't know is that something people assume I think it is oh man we love to eat everything food is very centric to everything we do even at like funerals there's like gotta be food of some sort and good food yes not just any food yes like even when we're mourning hahaha we are mourning with with food food is huge and I think that's one of the things I said earlier that I love about being Mexican is our food real quick I wanna add there are um like very basic things that are considered Mexican food like tacos and tamales and stuff like that but all regions of Mexico have different cuisines as well so like southern Mexico has great mole which I don't know if you've ever had it's like a sauce kind of like I could I compare it to curry okay tell me what it is it made of oh it's made out of so many things I don't even know fully I don't know that I've had but it's um it's got peanuts in it chocolate cinnamon bunch of peppers I've never had Molly oh my gosh we need to have mole together one day I would love to um but you know and they also have other it's a it's a dessert no it's a it's like a sauce it's like a curry it's a little spicy but there's chocolate in it but there's chocolate like cacao okay like the actual like better cacao yeah okay okay um yeah oh I'm getting hungry now haha yeah so yeah I think um that we have that we eat a lot that we love food and that we make great food it's true the rumors are true love it now you mentioned at funerals I'm curious cause now I'm imagining a bunch of Mexican eating tacos at a funeral and I'm like that would be messy so yeah please enlight me there's no there's what's a difficult like yeah so there's usually um I know the funerals I've been to here and I've never actually been to a funeral in Mexico um but the funerals have been here too in the States there's definitely like just home cooking I wanna say I'm trying to find the word in English but we say guisados and guisados means basically when you just like cook something in a pan and it can be like meats or a mix of vegetables and yeah something like that there's always like a sauce too that goes with it um there's that there's also caldos the soups I don't know I think soups just make us happy you know and just kind of like comforting not happy I mean comforting comforting yes yes yeah so there's also been soups there's always bread though there's always bread like sweet bread pandulce like pastries and stuff and coffee there's always gonna be coffee um to go to Moca Moca yes haha awesome let's do another one truth there or debunk um let's do debunk what's the most common misconception about your culture and what's the real story behind it yeah um a majority of people think that Mexicans only speak Spanish and that's actually not true there Mexico is a very diverse country and there are lots of different ethnic backgrounds but mainly there's a lot of native people still in Mexico like indigenous people indigenous to this continent and they they still speak their indigenous languages there are pockets of Mexico where there's those indigenous communities and when they come here to the states they can be really hard to serve cause I do work in health equity and um do a lot of research on that it can be hard to serve because we kind of have understood that serving these communities means having a Spanish speaker at the clinic and these people don't Spanish is not their first language wow um so that has been really tricky to navigate here in the States but these people like I said speak their native like Mayan Nahuat you know asque languages indigenous languages and so Spanish is not their first language which also leads me back to um Mexican Americans sometimes get hate um for not speaking Spanish I think it can be seen in like Selena Gomez the the celebrity who does not speak a drop of Spanish and there's a lot of folks that grew up here that are like that but being Mexican does not mean speaking Spanish whether it's here in the States or even in Mexico so I just kind of wanted to to bring that to light because a lot of people don't know that a lot of even Mexicans don't know that I never knew there's like there's unfortunately there is um in Mexico itself there is um discrimination against indigenous people still and people are viewed as less educated and um just lower on the socioeconomic scale if they don't speak Spanish and then here in the States there's there's also that discrimination against like Mexican Americans who were maybe born here and have always lived their life here and that only speak English and don't speak Spanish and it's like being Mexican doesn't mean you're gonna speak Spanish all the time whether here or in Mexico that's a really good one yeah I I had no clue so I just Learned something here yeah let's do one last round I think it's round 5 let's do let's do dare dare to teach what would you teach us can you share again a phrase um in your language that we should know about and what it means yeah let's do let's do a Charle Charle muchacha Tus tacos that was a long one oh yeah that was a little bit long I think okay so um so I'll tell you okay I'm let me paint a little scenario of where this would be should I say it before you explain it yes go ahead what okay you have to repeat it okay a charle a charle mucha mucha crema crema atustacos atustacos okay the first the verb that's used I'm not sure what it is but I think it's putting cream on your tacos yeah it's charle what does that mean put put into put okay yeah like put a lot of cream on your tacos yes and so this one's funny but it's like a very common saying let me give you a scenario where I would use it like uh if the two of us are you know at a party maybe talking and then there comes a third person and she's really like embellishing what she does for a living and how much money she makes and you know how many awards she's gotten she's bragging yeah and she leaves and you and I are like oh that is so good I love that yeah so what I just said means I think she put too much cream on her tacos so it is kind of like being judgy like when we say cheese mad when we means like we're talking or gossiping a little bit could it be in a non gossip way can you say it in a non gossip way or it's mostly I think it's made oh it is pretty judgmental like even if you just say it to yourself like you know um could you say that about yourself yes actually yes I haha cause I I was too much yeah yeah because I have asked my partner Luis like do you think you know and it's funny cause he's not Mexican he's he's Hispanic but he's not Mexican so uh huh sometimes I have to also teach him these sayings um but it pretty much means like tooting your own horn you know like we have that saying here like not to toot my own horn you can say that to like no puta Chile muchachas but when we're thinking somebody's just showing off too much or embellishing the truth to seem better than it actually is it just means that's great now let's switch gears looking ahead what's for Diana what's for the community that you're helping because you are helping shape a new generation of Latinas in the US and specifically in Alabama if you fast forward 20 years what do you hope looks completely different for them yeah that's that's a great question I um I would hope that and really I hope this for all women I feel like I I am in the business of helping young Latinas just because I am or maybe I'm not so young anymore but I am a Latina and I was once a young Latina in Alabama with no role models or nobody to really look up to no um mentors that looked like me or understood my background from something so simple as maybe talking to them about like hey I went on this date and this happened and I don't I didn't feel super comfortable with it because you know sometimes our parents aren't the safe people to go to because they don't want to talk about those things something as simple as that to also like how do I fill out this FAFSA application so I can go to college to more in the professional setting like my boss is making me do this extra work and I don't feel I don't know how to like tell her that I'm not getting paid enough you know asking for a raise yes yeah yeah yeah so from all of those standpoints like I I hope that all women and all young women you know just feel more comfortable with themselves with expressing their needs their wants their desires arranging in all like in all settings like I like I mentioned you know something as simple as like I'm starting to date to being you know in school or you know in your professional development whatever that may look like cause college isn't for everyone to even professionally just and speaking out in their in their relationships as well you know if you you know are in a more traditional married life historically there have been a lot of issues there too that sometimes you know women don't feel comfortable or sometimes we're just not taught how to have constructive conversations with the people that we love and how to express our needs and our wants um and that's really like that's really all I I want and what I hope Alabama looks like for young women in 20 years both at a you know interpersonal level and at a legislative level because currently we're not seeing the most um woman friendly laws getting passed either unfortunately I just want freedom I guess yeah for the ability to make your own choices yeah and to just really and be yourself you know like know that you don't have to who you are the way you look the way you act or are perceived to be liked by others I really want women to just be themselves not have to fit nicely into a box that society wants us to fit in to be liked I I don't necessarily am saying like don't care about being liked because it is hard as humans as social creatures and because I do come from more collective culture we do wanna be liked that's just a normal thing that we have it's just a normal human need actually to be liked and to belong in a group in a community so it's not so much of that but to know that your community will still embrace you with all of your uniqueness like that is that is what I hope for that that is what I hope that Alabama looks like for for young women 20 years from now that's a that's a very beautiful message of hope and just desire for I mean really anyone anywhere but obviously we're given different levels of opportunities um depending of where we are born to start with right yeah um so I like how you help to shape that next generation yeah that's awesome now coming to an end for someone listening right now who might be feeling lost maybe a young Latina who just arrived in the US what's one thing you wish someone had told you when you were in her shoes oh man something as simple as your valid you're valid and your experience matters and you're not alone once again I think just knowing feeling like you're not alone can be huge cause sometimes you do feel like you know the odd one out the one that no one will ever understand there are other people who have who have had this experience or might even be having it now and they matter so much you know like I think just even with our laws criminalizing our existence here like it already feels like I don't matter I don't I don't deserve good things I you know as long as I'm able to eat another day like that's as good as I can get like I don't deserve education I don't deserve nice opportunities all these things that sometimes you know the systemic structures can you know send those messages to us and we receive them and I just hope that any young woman who is new to this country new to the state that they can see they can hear that they are valid and that they deserve all the all the good things in the world thank you so much Diana I'd like to know for anyone interested in following your work supporting your mission where can they find you yeah so I am on Instagram as so it is in Spanish risas y risos we'll put in the shoutout yeah which literally translates to laughter and curls but it kind of like there's an alliteration there in Spanish um but yeah there I mostly post my own thoughts and beliefs along with some funny things haha so um I'm on Instagram I think I post more seriously on Facebook though uh and you can find me there uh as I think I'm also like the username is like at risas risos but uh the the name is Diana Martinez Garcia yeah with the with a hyphen and I do there I do uh more serious posting that's where I'm posting about events that I'm putting on for young women uh cause so um with my program we're developing an app and uh well actually we've already developed it we're in the beta testing phase right now yeah so we're actually looking for young women within that demographic 16 to 21 to test it yeah uh and we do have monetary incentives to to give them throughout the faces of the testing we are looking for young women from Alabama we are trying to capture that Alabamian experience so must have been must have lived here for at least 5 years 16 to 21 identify as Latina test the app it's full of great resources and educational modules to to help them learn about how to navigate the healthcare system how to learn about their bodies STI's contraception all those things that kind of are stigmatized and they don't get that those conversations maybe at home definitely not at school so yeah the posting about that more on my Facebook so for anyone interested in being part of that study or giving feedback to your app do they just contact you on Instagram yeah or where do we yeah you can you can find me uh anywhere on either social media or uh platform Facebook but also I do have my study email that's VIP study at u a dot edu so if you shoot me an email there I'd be happy to connect with you whether it's you're a potential participant that wants to test out the app or if you're maybe um maybe have another program but you see that this would be good for the people that you serve I'd be happy to like connect and we can maybe talk about putting an event together or me coming to speak to your group that's v I p study at u a at u a dot e d u wonderful Diana thank you for sharing your story for being so vulnerable with us today oh thank you for having me I I really appreciate it and um muchachas yes yes yes thank you for tuning in to from where to hear if you enjoyed this episode be sure to hit subscribe leave a review and share it with someone who loves discovering new cultures follow us on Instagram at from where to hear pod for exclusive updates behind the scenes moments and a peek at upcoming guests until next time keep learning keep connecting and keep celebrating the beauty of languages and cultures adieu I think what comes to mind is just